


Handle With Care

by DinerGuy



Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Shenanigans, Short, mythbusting of The White Knight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21664426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinerGuy/pseuds/DinerGuy
Summary: The guys help Higgins with a chore at Robin's Nest, but no one's on their best behavior. (But are they ever?)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 63





	Handle With Care

**Author's Note:**

> Just some fluff to make your day better. Thanks to frankie_mcstein for her help with this one.
> 
> Standard disclaimers apply.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?"

At the sound of Higgins' exclamation, Rick and T.C. froze and turned toward the doorway. She had her eyebrows raised and was watching them with a stern expression of disapproval.

"We're helping with the packing?" Rick offered in answer to her question from a moment before, although the unsurety of his words was more than obvious.

Higgins sighed and stepped inside, walking over to pluck the old-looking tome from Rick's hands. "I appreciate that the two of you wanted to help us pack the room up for when the renovators arrive tomorrow, but some of these books are priceless and cannot be replaced, so throwing them haphazardly to each other is not an acceptable way to clear the shelves."

Just then, Magnum stepped past her, arms full of empty boxes, and Higgins smirked. "If you absolutely must throw things, restrict yourselves to the White Knight series, which are neither priceless nor irreplaceable."

"Hey!" Magnum objected, turning around so quickly the top box in the pile in his arms slid off and nearly hit T.C. in the head. "Higgy, you know it hurts me when you talk like that about my exploits."

"And just how irreplaceable do you imagine yourself to be?" She smirked and stepped over to the bookshelf. Tilting her head thoughtfully, she picked out one of the hardcovers. "You could even start with this one," she added, tossing the book to Rick, who caught it and flipped it over to read the cover. "I found it particularly unrealistic."

Now it was T.C.'s turn to object. "Hey now, I actually got to do something useful in that one!"

Rick looked up. "Really? You flew the helicopter. Which was your job, if I recall."

"Guys," Magnum protested, reaching to snatch the novel from Rick's hands. "Come on. Robin may stretch the truth a little"—Higgins' snort interrupted him, but he just gave her a sideways look—"from time to time, but it's not like the things in these books couldn't have happened."

Stealing the book back from Magnum, Rick huffed in annoyance. "Yeah, well, I think this is the one where I got a concussion  _ and  _ got shot in the arm while distracting the bad guys for the White Knight's idiotically heroic plan, and  _ that _ never happened."

"Yeah, but it  _ could _ have," T.C. offered, then ducked as Rick threw a roll of packing tape at his head. "Come on; cheer up, Rick. At least you got to fight! I was stuck in the helicopter the whole time."

"We needed a quick exfil!" Magnum jumped in. "How were we supposed to escape at a moment's notice if you didn't have the chopper waiting when we ran up being chased by the bad guys?"

"Says the guy who  _ somehow  _ ended up as the dashingly heroic main character of all of these stories," Rick remarked with a good-natured roll of his eyes.

"Not that I don't agree with your assessment of the 'daring' exploits of the White Knight," Higgins interjected, clearing her throat. "But we do have to get this room completely packed up and stored away before it gets too late, and the crew will be here first thing in the morning, so perhaps we can continue this conversation while we work?" She followed up her words by pulling several volumes off of the shelf in front of her, then moved to put them in an empty box sitting nearby.

The three men exchanged glances, then nodded.

"You got it, Higgy," T.C. replied, throwing the tape back at Rick, who caught it and made a face at him.

"And I'll have you know they  _ were  _ daring!" Magnum spoke up as he moved beside Higgins to start removing more of the shelf's contents. "Just because you weren't there doesn't mean they didn't happen."

Rick coughed. "Yeah, well,  _ I  _ was there, and I can assure you half of the stuff never did. At least, not in the way readers of the novels think."

"He's got a point, T.M.," T.C. chimed in.

When Higgins smirked at him, Magnum shook his head and feigned hurt. "I'll try not to take it personally."

"Oh, we don't mind if you do," Higgins replied, prompting choked laughter from Rick and T.C.

Magnum made a face. "You laugh now, but just wait until Robin decides to add in a tough British spy who clashes with the White Knight at every turn. Then you'll see what it's like for things  _ you  _ did to be splashed across the page for everyone to critique."

Higgins laughed at that. "Yes, well, I can almost certainly assure you  _ that  _ will never happen. Now, shall we get on with this? The packing isn't going to finish itself." She shot Magnum a look. "Or we could keep going through the novels and Rick and T.C. could fill me in on what really happened in each of them."

"Oh, but we can multitask," Rick offered mischievously, giving T.C. a grin.

Magnum looked up from where he was stacking another handful of books in the box. "Guys!"

"Oh, don't worry, White Knight," T.C. replied, winking at Higgins. "We would never lie to Higgy."


End file.
